In just a decade, video games gameplay had a huge leap from niche to near mainstream sport. The competitive gameplay makes the E-sports business bigger.
In real life there are more people playing video games rather than outdoor sports such as basketball or baseball.
And it is not just a tale tell. Its the reality! Here’s why, The recent competition in Los Angeles for instance, Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of the US division of Japanese game maker Nintendo, before the big event and the grand presentations each had been preparing for the competition in a World Championship of the company’s games.
VIDEO GAMES AN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
Super Smash Bros was the game which is one of the most well-known Nintendo’s fighting tites. Reggie Fils-Aime controls Ryu, of the faces the iconic Street Fighter franchise. The character, muscles bulging and forever wearing an intense expression, is equipped to fell opponents with his trademark hurricane kick.
Meanwhile, the challenger was Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma a competitive gamer that controls Jigglypuff, a cute pink animal from the popular Pokemon monster hunting video game. Imagine a stuffed animal, give it even cuter eyes, and you have Jigglypuff. It sings opponents to sleep.
What happens next? Ryu, the character controlled by Fils-Aime’s knocked out in the first 4 seconds of the game. Then the crowd laughed. Eventually, Ryu didn’t have a chance he died repeatedly in the following three minutes and 54 seconds.
THE AUDIENCE
The competition witnessed by more than 200,000 fans in a theater watching live over the Internet. The numerous figures who watched the event is an edge. This could mean that the popularity of the video game industry is getting deeper and deeper than before, It has been trending and became a main subject of TV stations in South Korea and it’s expected to attract an audience of 134 million people this year, up 91 percent from the year before, according to industry watcher SuperData Research.
Furthermore, sports channel ESPN also joined in as it is set to release the very first magazine about e-sports which features US National Football League player Marshawn Lynch on the cover. Inside are the stories about video games.
More than that the magazine also features profile of a League of Legends superstar player from South Korea. And to stream the world’s most popular tournaments online on its ESPN3 channel, the company also partners with game makers.